SAD About Seasonal Affective Disorder

Beat the winter blues

By Susan Stopper

As the days get shorter and the weather colder, many women find themselves feeling tired and down. When these feelings interfere with daily life, they may signify seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression that affects people in autumn and winter.

Spotlight on
Light Therapy
Light therapy — which exposes a person to
artificial light for a sustained period of time — is effective for many SAD patients and can be done in the comfort of home while eating breakfast or reading a book.

Light therapy boxes are square, circular or rectangular and stand on a table or desk. Standard boxes contain white fluorescent lights, but LED models are also available.
“Bright white light is still the standard and is quite helpful,” says light research expert Byrne. “Blue light is newer and promising but hasn’t been investigated as thoroughly yet.”

Light therapy boxes generally cost between $180 and $500 and can be purchased from a drugstore or online retailer. “A prescription is not needed, but some health insurers will cover the cost if a physician writes a prescription or letter of medical necessity,” says Virtua’s Ibay.

Look for a box that produces light at 10,000 lux and filters out most of the harmful UV light.
Patients typically sit in front of the light box for
30 minutes each morning and experience
improvement within one to two weeks. Once they start to feel better as the days lengthen, light therapy can be discontinued until the following year.

Symptoms of SAD are similar to those of general depression, except they occur only in the fall and winter, then abate in the spring. The disorder affects about half a million Americans annually, with four times more women suffering the condition than men. SAD manifests itself in decreased energy, emotions of hopelessness, oversleeping, anxiety, a loss of interest in once-enjoyable social activities and changes in appetite, especially the craving of carbohydrates.

What causes seasonal affective disorder?

Though the exact cause of SAD is unknown, theories about its source point to Mother Nature. “We know that light is a powerful biological stimulus,” says Brenda Byrne, PhD, director of the Seasonal Affective Disorder Clinic at the Light Research Program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Longer seasonal stretches of darkness may interfere with the body’s circadian rhythms and decrease the hormone melatonin and the brain chemical serotonin, both of which can affect sleep and mood.

If symptoms of SAD seep into your everyday life, see your doctor or a mental health provider. Light therapy, antidepressants and psychotherapy can all be potent treatments. “The effectiveness of each option is probably about the same,” says Annamarie Ibay, MD, medical director at Virtua Family Medicine Center in Lumberton, NJ. “But some people may not have time to do light therapy or psychotherapy, and others may not like taking or have side effects to medication.”

Coping with seasonal affective disorder

Lifestyle changes can also help fight seasonal depression. Exercise more, increase the amount of light in your home, spend more time outside and practice relaxation and stress reduction techniques.

“If your mood is telling you to stay in, get out,” says Mike Considine, PsyD, a therapist at Mid-Atlantic Behavioral Health in Newark, DE. “By doing the opposite action you will get less of the negative emotion. New mothers especially may wake up with low energy and feel depressed. Try to get out of your head and be in the moment with your child. It can help to go for a walk, which is a multisensory experience.”

SAD has a benefit that other forms of depression do not: Those who grapple with it know when to expect its arrival. “If you anticipate getting depressed in the winter, plan for it,” says Considine. Make appointments, take a class, see friends — anything you think will help keep the winter blues at bay.